The organisers of Britain's Bloodstock Open Air festival has announced that Finnish heavy metal outfit Children Of Bodom and industrial metal legends Fear Factory will be headlining the 2010 edition of the event.

Children Of Bodom's Alexi Laiho comments: "I'm really glad we're playing Bloodstock next year – it's the only UK show for us in 2010, and the crowd over there has been awesome for us lately!"

The organizers of Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting has announced a string of new additions to the lineup for next years event, which will take place in the town of Dessel between June 25th-27th. The latest bands confirmed for the event are Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Doro, Nile, Sabaton, Therion, Bloodbath, Mucky Pup and Hail Of Bullets.

Dr. Mikannibal of Japanese metallers Sigh is sharing her Habanero Gyudon recipe with the world in the new cookbook "Hellbent For Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook." The book, which was put together by Annick "Morbid Chef" Giroux, is now available from Bazillion Points Books. "Hellbent For Cooking" features 101 entries from 32 countries and includes entries from bands such as Thin Lizzy, Anthrax, Destruction, Possessed, Obituary, Accept, Doro, Gwar, Toxic Holocaust, EyeHateGod, Saint Vitus, Amebix, Melechesh, Cauldron, Uriah Heep, and more. About 30% of the entries are vegetarian. More info on the cookbook can be found at this location.

Bloodstock Open Air has confirmed a further two acts for next years festival. After being forced to pull out in 2009, the organizers have confirmed Gwar will be making an appearance. The Grammy-nominated Scumdogs Of The Universe will be flying in from Antarctica to unleash hell on all in attendance. Frontmonster Oderus Urungus warns us of the impending orgy of bodily fluids, nuclear waste and all manner of murder and vulgarity:

"Greetings people of Earth, it is I, ODERUS URUNGUS, lead singer of the Bloodiest band in metal history, the mighty GWAR! And it is with a sense of toe-curling delight and impending DOOM that I announce the addition of the GWAR to the mammoth BLOODSTOCK Open Air Metal Festival to be held this summer in England. Thats right, from the frozen depths of Antarctica, GWAR brings what BLOODSTOCK needs...BLOOD! Prepare yourself for the most colossal, disgusting, and completely politically incorrect show in metal history! We'll bring the swords, you bring the bodies, and together we shall turn the slam-pit into a seething mass of DEATH not seen in Europe since the fall of Berlin! GWAR is playing BLOODSTOCK...and may the Pope choke on it!"

Finnish folk metallers Korpiklaani will also be bringing their band of merry metal to Derby this summer for their only UK appearance of 2010. The band commented: More...

American death metal legends Cannibal Corpse has announced that they will be performing at next years edition of England's Bloodstock Open Air festival. Fans will want to be attending this event as it will be the bands only show in the United Kingdom in 2010. The festival will be taking place between August 13th and August 15th at the Catton Hall in Derbyshire.

Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz stated: "We are extremely excited to be playing Bloodstock! It will be our first ever festival appearance in the UK and we can't wait to tear it up for the masses!"

The organizers of Germany's Bang Your Head!!! festival has announced the first set of bands for next year's edition of the event. Japanese heavy metal veterans Loudness will be performing a special "old school" set at the festival, which will also see performances from Doro, Enforcer and Jag Panzer. The festival will take place between July 16th and 17th in Balingen, Germany.

German goth-metallers Krypteria has checked in with the following tour update:

"When it became obvious that we would not be able to do our October tour throughout Germany due to [guitarist] Chris' condition, we immediately went to work on an adequate alternative so we would still be able to perform "My Fatal Kiss" live for our fans in 2009.

"Today we gladly announce Krypteria's return to the live circuit for this December.

"Even though we have not been able to set up a full-fledged headliner tour due to obvious logistical issues, we've received a little, no, a ton of help from a friend: Doro Pesch, the metal queen herself, and her booking agency Noisegate Productions just invited us to join them as special guest on their December tour - wow !

"The Hard&Heavy icon from Duesseldorf and Krypteria have some history together: In 2008 Doro, being one of the nicest people in all of Rock'n'Roll, had asked [singer] Ji-In to join her on her single 'Celebrate'; a couple of months later they performed the song - originally mixed by Krypteria's Chris - at Doro's 25th live anniversary event with All-Girl All-Star line-up.

"With Doro and the guys in her band always kicking major ass and us being determined to royally rock the crowds as well, this should shape up to be one heck of a live double whammy before Christmas."

Mob Rules has issued the following statement about their video clip for the song "Astral Hand" appearing on an upcoming compilation CD/DVD set:

"Our brand new video clip 'Astral Hand' will be featured on the 'ALL FOR METAL II' compilation, to be released on October 9th (also the release date of our 'Astral Hand' EP). 'All For Metal II' is a DVD+CD compilation which will be sold for a special low price (suggested retail price is 9,99 euro)."

Doro has issued the following announcement about postponing their upcoming Arizona tour dates, which were scheduled for September 18th and 19th:

"Dear Fans,

"We are extremely sorry for the late word on this but the 2 shows in Arizona must be postponed until a later date. We tried our best to make it work but Doro has an emergency meeting in NY which could not be changed due to it's nature. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.

"We will make these shows up at a later date and hopefully include additional shows in some of the cities we were unable to reach on this leg.

"Thank you very much for your patience and understanding. Our heartfelt apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused."

"We had a blast, thanx to our wonderful German friends & fans and touring with a killer line-up, really cool people and the best crew in the whole world! Rene from Mercenary actually took the time to write a review of the tour for my forum on www.AngelaGossow.Com - go and check it out!

"They also got an in depth tour report on the Mercenary Myspace Page, plus their kick-butt version of BURNING ANGEL in their player. Listen and bang your head!

"Sister Sin are young, tight and simply awesome and their take on hardrocking metal always put a smile on my face and made me tap my feet. Watch out for these guys and gal - they will get to you! And thanx for getting our gear from and back to Sweden again! We love you!!!

"Leaves Eyes - I got to meet Alex and Liv, both very sweet people. Not sure if they felt 'at home' as they were def the odd band out and my death metal soul doesnt really resonate with their quiet tunes. I hope they enjoyed it nevertheless- I loved the diversity of this tour line-up and the different dynamics each band brought to the table.

"Special thanx go out to Dirk Lehberger for making sense of the daily chaos, Clem Bennett for the best sound ever, Eddie for multitasking as drum tech and monitor tech (and being brilliant and never out of breath despite the heavy work load), Merch Chris for selling out our last stock and Swiss Samael Chris for a light show that left people in awe and hopefully cross eyed for the rest of the night! You all were wonderful and made IT happen. We would be lost without you and could hardly tie our shoe laces on our own I am afraid..

"And a big THANK YOU to DORO for inviting us to her 25 year anniversary show! We had a short, but raging set and I hope she enjoyed her massive bash.. I think the stress backstage would have killed me..

"It was also fun to meet my old pal Pete (from Asmodina and Mistress) again who played in Pratteln and Bad Arolsen with his new band All We Hate!

Finnish metal act Sonata Arctica has been added to the bill for 2009's Norway Rock Festival. The festival also boasts appearances from Satyricon, W.A.S.P. and Doro. More details will be announced once they are revealed.

ARCH ENEMY have been invited to perform as special guest at Doro's "25 Years in Rock" anniversary event on December 13th, 2008 in Düsseldorf, Germany at the ISS-Dome. The festival will feature a crushing line-up and fantastic guests - to be announced in detail soon. Tickets can be bought at METALTIX.de, more info can be obtained at DORO.de.

Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Gossow comments: "I am so excited to rock hard with the one and only Mrs. Doro Pesch! She is not only my teenage idol ('All We Are' from Warlock was about the only song I liked at school disco!) and basically my neighbour (Cologne – Duesseldorf is right next to each other) – But she is hands down one of the nicest, down-to-earth and most beautiful musicians I have met so far. I can hardly believe its her '25 Years In Rock' anniversary – She is still as youthful as ever! She's got the power for sure! You don't want to miss out on this extraordinary event and maybe seing me and Doro on a stage together! Make sure you get your tickets early!"

Angela Gossow is also featured on Doro Pesch's new single, "Celebrate," including other guest appearances by Liv Kristine (LEAVES' EYES), Veronica Freeman (BENEDICTUM), GIRLSCHOOL, Floor Jansen (AFTER FOREVER) and another one that was recorded with the help of Biff Byford (SAXON).

Mastermind and multi-talent Oliver Palotai signs to Napalm Records with his band SONS OF SEASONS. Oliver, who also plays guitars in Doro and keyboards in Kamelot, promises that the debut album will deliver a symphonic metal masterpiece.

Oliver Palotai comments: "We are very happy to announce that with Napalm Records, we found the right partner with which to bring our music from the cradle to the ears of metal and rock fans all around the world. Since the beginning in 2007, Sons Of Seasons turned out to be the melting pot of all our creative energies and we are impatient to finally get into the studio and go on tour. In early 2009, we will introduce the first chapter of Sons of Seasons by releasing our debut album 'Gods of Vermin'."

San Francisco thrash metal pioneers Death Angel have been confirmed as the latest addition to a stellar Magic Circle Festival lineup. The Magic Circle Festival will be held in Bad Arolsen/Germany from July 9 to 12, 2008. Death Angel will be performing as a special guest at the MCF Events Hall on Thursday, July 10th.

Also, a third full day of music has been added to the Magic Circle Festival at no additional charge. "Magic Circle Music is all about value for the fans, and three nights at the original price is the best way we could think of to add to that value," says Magic Circle Music founder and MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio.

Two days of music was not enough to contain such an impressive lineup, so a third full day of music has been added to the Magic Circle Festival at no additional charge. “Magic Circle Music is all about value for the fans, and three nights at the original price is the best way we could think of to add to that value,” says Magic Circle Music founder and MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio. The Magic Circle festival will begin on Wednesday, July 9 with opening ceremonies, followed by three days of music on Thursday, July 10 with Alice Cooper appearing as very special guest, Friday, July 11 and Saturday, July 12

Tickets for the Magic Circle Festival are available now at www.magiccirclefestival.com, www.nuclearblast.de, www.ticketsonline.de, www.eventim.de, www.ticketagenten.de.

Germany's long-reigning metal queen, DORO PESCH kicked off her North American tour on March 20th at Jokers, in Philadelphia, PA. The concert represented something of a homecoming for her backing band (Johnny Dee, drums; Nick Douglas, Bass, Joe Taylor, guitar) who all currently reside in (or were originally from) the surrounding NJ-Philly area. Locomotive labelmates FATAL SMILE (from Sweden) opened the show. DORO makes stops in Virginia, upstate New York and New York City before hitting Toronto, on March 25th.

"Over the years the very special, deep friendship between Metal Queen Doro Pesch and Boxing Queen Regina Halmich became obvious to anybody. Especially for Regina Halmich´s last fight on November 30th, Doro wrote the new song 'The Queen', which will be Regina’s anthem for this special evening.

To share this special event with all the fans of Doro, Regina and the millions of TV spectators, Doro will not only perform 'The Queen' on fight night, but her new CD The Queen (a collection of all fight hymns Doro sang for Regina) will be in stores on November 30th."

The tracklist is as follows: 'The Queen', 'She's Like Thunder', 'We're Like Thunder', 'All We Are', 'Fight'.